Love for dad

For more than a decade, Jeff Goldberg has been teaching acting, scriptwriting and directing at some of the finest acting and film schools all over the world. For the first time he was in Hyderabad to present a play ‘Cookie Machine’, which explores the relationship between a father and son

Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation celebrates monthly Theatre Weekend. As part of it they staged an English play ‘Cookie Machine’ on Thursday. The play is written by American playwright-actor-director Jeff Goldberg and directed by Natasha D’Souza.

Jeff Goldberg in the role of father is supported by Karan Pandit as his son. ‘Cookie Machine’ is a story of a famous aging American rock and roll singer Jack Ray who travels to Mumbai and meets a young man, Karim Shaik, who turns out to be his son. The play explored this specific family conundrum, love between an estranged father and son. It’s an unlikely story of love, family and revelation.

In the play the son tries to explain that he is his (Jeff’s) son and he has a lot of evidence in the form of old letters by the father to his mother. The son continuously challenges his father and finally understands that his father is aware of the fact and had a bad time both financially and health-wise and was trying to recover slowly.

The play was inspired by a song by Goldberg’s friend, late musician Owen Stewart. “He was Scottish and we met in France. He wrote a song called ‘Cookies Machine’ that explores such a relationship. It was one day, during one of my morning runs, I realised the beauty of the story in that song and thought of adapting it,” says Goldberg.

In the end, the son hugs his father in an intense scene and understands that he had no intention to disown him except for the circumstances that kept him away.